IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2021 - 35

Opinion
Vaccines, Public Health, and the Law
Johnna Wallace
Quinnipiac University School of Law,
North Haven, CT 06473 USA
 The COVID-19 panDemIC has loomed over the
world for the better part of a year now; yet, many still
cannot shake the disbelief that it is here. Nonetheless,
countries around the world continue to be ravaged
by death, and the healthcare workers battle on. As
vaccine distribution makes its way to the mainstream,
I cannot help but wonder, will people even take the
vaccine? In an already divided country, where many
are refusing to wear masks due to disbelief, violation
of liberty, or mere quarantine fatigue, what will
become of those that disobey if vaccination orders
become mandatory? Public health emergencies may
seem novel, but that is not the case. Even with modern
technology and the most brilliant minds, certain
diseases continue to baffle the scientific community
[1, pp. 611-612]. Furthermore, new ones appear and
seem to render the world at the same mercy as the
diseases of centuries before [1, pp. 618-619]. On the
other hand, the evolution of vaccination has been
successful on many fronts as well. Vaccines for polio,
measles, rubella, mumps, and varicella are just a few
of the vaccines that have been used successfully for
several decades [2, S5, S6].
Disease prevention due to successful vaccination is
a double-edged sword as it can give the illusion that
mass vaccination is no longer warranted. Antivaccination
movements are not completely absent throughout
history, but for example, most recently, parents have
been declining childhood vaccines at alarming levels
[2, S9]. Safety concerns and misinformation seem to be
at the forefront of these movements; however, " ...herd
immunity will fail if too many refuse to be vaccinated "
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2021.3077053
Date of current version: 3 June 2021.
June 2021
[2, S9]. Due to the effects of herd immunity giving the
impression that the risk for communicable disease is
something we no longer have to actively prevent, the
number of people refusing to vaccinate or delaying the
vaccine schedule has been on the rise [3, p. e1].
Vaccine hesitancy has been characterized recently
by a committee at the World Health Organization
as " a behavior, influenced by a number of factors
including issues of confidence (do not trust a vaccine
or a provider), complacency (do not perceive
a need for a vaccine or do not value the vaccine),
and convenience (access). " Vaccine-hesitant individuals
are a heterogeneous group who hold varying
degrees of indecision about specific vaccines
or about vaccinations in general [3, p. e2].
Relaxing vaccination requirements, particularly for
schools, has allowed parents to waive vaccinations
for personal or philosophical beliefs [3, p. e4]. For
herd immunity to be effective, it depends on the virus;
however, some viruses require up to 95 % herd immunity
to provide adequate protection to a population
[3, p. e3]. The threat to herd immunity is real, as demonstrated
when children in California experienced an
outbreak of measles when a number of students had
opted out of vaccinations [3, p. e4]. Although the reasons
people are opposed to vaccination vary, parents
tend to be concerned about adverse effects and the
long-term consequences to some of the components
common to vaccines, such as mercury and aluminum
[3, p. e6]. Parents need to be educated that mercury
is no longer contained in the single-dose vials and aluminum
is a component necessary to the immunization
process; furthermore, a lack of information exists
in corroborating any concerns of toxicity [3, p. e6].
0278-0097/21©2021 IEEE
35

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2021

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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2023
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